Hi Friend,

I hope I caught you at a good time. I heard that you needed some inspiration and motivation to not give up on life. I know everyone is talking to you about not giving up on school, your goals, your dreams, etc. But no one is talking to you about not giving up on LIFE.

First, let me give you a scientific fact about yourself that you may not know. Your brain is still developing. The part of your brain that you need to make rational decisions has not formed yet. It is in the formation process which is why you may feel like you are not making the right decisions. So don’t be so hard on yourself. Now that we got that important statement out of the way let me tell you a little about my story.

I know, firsthand, how life gets real for the youth. When I was 12 years old, I lost my younger brother to a car accident. Besides all the other things I was going through this incident rocked my life. Knocked me right off my square. Life, from that point, didn’t make sense to me. I was sad and depressed all day, every day. And every other emotion you could think of I felt also.

By age 15 I didn’t want to live anymore. I didn’t feel like I had anyone in my corner and the pain I felt in my heart wasn’t going away. And then I met some friends in high school who gave me hope. They made me laugh and smile daily. They wouldn’t allow me to sit in my misery. The funny part is that they never knew that I was internally sad because I didn’t talk about it.

When I met this group of friends I decided to not focus on my sadness. I decided that I was going to work on being happy. I decided that my life was important, and I wanted to see how far I could go in life. I decided that I was too young to be depressed and stressed. And this is what I need for you to do. It is okay to learn how to be happy from other people. You must learn somehow.

Oh, the one thing I left out is that I created a strong, consistent relationship with God. I prayed every day because that’s where all my strength came from. And before you say you are not religious, I want you to know that God isn’t religious either. He is love. All those love songs you hear is God expressing his love in various ways. You can’t spell love without God and yes, I know the letters don’t spell the name thing, but the meaning does. (Hopefully, you work on building a relationship with him yourself to get the full understanding of what I’m talking about.)

There is a verse in the bible, Jeremiah 29:11 that tells us that “God knows the plans for our lives which is to prosper. His plan is not to harm us but to give us hope for the future.” When I felt down, sad, and/or out of place I recited this bible verse to myself to remind myself that I am here for a purpose, and if I don’t live life intentionally I will never know what that purpose is. The same goes for you.

I know you are young, and you feel, as a youngster, that all you have to worry about is having fun. Which is true to some degree. No one wants to stop your fun. We just want you to have fun wisely so that you don’t make any mistakes that will come back to hurt the future.

You deserve to be a Lawyer, Teacher, Accountant, Astronaut, Supreme Court Judge, President of the United States, or whatever it is that you want to be in life. You deserve a happy life. You deserve a life full of peace and joy. You deserve all that and more, but you have to start appreciating life to get it.

And, I heard you say that life gets boring when you get older. That’s not true either. Life is what you make it. If you want a boring life, you will have one. If you want a life full of healthy fun and entertainment, you will have one. The life you live will be the life you created which is why I’m asking you to not give up on life but to think about how you want your life to look in the future.

And you are not too old to use your imagination. If you can see it, you can be it. What you call “imagination” adults call “manifestation”. Either way, I bet it will help and you will begin to see life in a different light. With the understanding that you are not going to stay young forever and that life gets better in time, with patience and consistent prayer.

I hope my story helped you understand that we all go through tough times at a young age. I hope my letter encourages you to stay strong and not give up on life but to look at life for what it is, a purpose to be filled by God.

Sincerely,
Danielle Davis
P.S. Matthews 6:9-13 teaches you how to pray if you don’t know how.